Aston Villa striker John Carew remained defiant despite his side's shock defeat at home to Sunderland.

The Norwegian international saw his side drop another three valuable points in their quest for European football for next season but refused to concede Villa's season was over.

He said: "We are very disappointed. That is a match we should have won at home and with Portsmouth losing to Tottenham, we should have capitalised.

"I don't know why we lost. We have a good spirit in the team and I felt good and I felt the players felt good when they stepped out there. We created a couple of chances in the beginning and I thought it was going to be a good day."

Villa had more than their share of possession and chances but failed to make the most of them - paying the price in the second half after Sunderland boss Roy Keane had introduced substitute Chopra into the fray.

Carew, whose side have now gone three weeks without a win, said: "When we are hitting our heads against the fence all the time and having the ball, we should be managing to create clear chances but then we know what can happen. You suddenly get a counter-attack against you and they score and that's what happened.

"We don't write off our chances of Europe yet. We have more matches to come and we have to take one match at a time. If we win the matches we have left, then we still have a chance. Losing to Sunderland was a blow but we can still come back."

Carew said he could not make excuses for the team and denied the paucity of Martin O'Neill's squad had been a hindrance or that players were exhausted. He said: "We shouldn't be more tired than any other team. After the Arsenal game, we should have had a boost instead.

"That was a positive experience when we held them for almost all the game and nearly won and that should have given us great belief but instead it has turned out to be the opposite.

"Always using the same players could have brought tiredness, but we are so well-trained that we should be able to cope with going at 100 per cent in each match in the League. I don't think that's too much to ask. That's what everybody expects."

The striker, who regularly tasted Champions League and top-flight European football when he was in Spain with Valencia, denied Villa had taken the likes of Middlesbrough and Sunderland for granted. He said: "If we made that mistake against Middlesbrough, then we should have learned and not done it again, but I don't think that's the problem.

"If my shot at goal after two minutes had gone in, then it would have been a different match. We felt good, we had the ball and we were really at them."

Carew threw a proverbial arm around the shoulders of his young strike partner Gabriel Agbonlahor, who has now gone more than a dozen games without scoring and was dropped for Fabio Capello's England squad for Wednesday's trip to France, despite being in the initial 30-man party.

Carew said: "That happens in football. Gabby is a great forward and has a great future with Villa and with the England squad. He should have all the confidence in the world. He just has to continue and I am 100 per cent confident that a goal will arrive very soon."

Villa now face a difficult trip to Manchester United at Old Trafford next weekend; they have already suffered at United's hands twice this season, losing 4-1 at home in the league in October, then going down 2-0 to the Premier League leaders in the third round of the FA Cup in January.

Carew continued: "It doesn't get any easier, but we have to take a trip to Manchester as a great match and a great experience. It is a match that every footballer wants to play in. We will go there with a positive spirit and enjoy the experience.

"I think we have a good chance to take points there and if we do, it will be a great turning point for us. There are not many games left so we really have to try and turn it around now."